Babel's Ledger: Zero Point

Chapter 18 — Asha's Secret, Path of the Blood Diamond 

1. In the Ashes, A Single Whisper

The derelict factory in Nairobi's Kibera slum transformed into a living hell in an instant, engulfed in flashes of gunfire, deafening explosions, and the acrid, choking smoke of gunpowder. Bullets rained down from all directions, mercilessly tearing into the concrete walls. Kai and Lilith, staggered by the concussive force of nearby blasts, barely managed to take cover behind a massive, mangled heap of machinery, their breaths ragged and harsh. The heavy thud of mercenary boots was drawing steadily, ominously closer. Before, they had been hunters, relentlessly pursuing their quarry; now, they were the hunted, cornered and desperate.

Mercenaries: "To the 'Kingdom Builder' and the 'Rothschild Traitor' cowering in there, this is your final warning! Surrender now, and we'll grant you the mercy of returning your corpses intact to your families! But if you don't show yourselves in one minute… this entire factory will become your goddamned tomb!"

Every escape route was cut off. It was a situation of absolute despair. Lilith checked the remaining energy charge of her emergency compact plasma pistol, her jaw clenched tight. Kai's fingers were already on the safety pin of his last smoke grenade. This might truly be their final stand. Perhaps, as Michael Rothschild had cryptically predicted, she was not to be his most lethal adversary, but his last companion, destined to perish alongside him.

It was precisely then. Through the cacophony of the mercenaries' coarse shouts and the roar of an encroaching fire, a sound, faint yet distinct, like the sigh of the wind, or perhaps the whimpering sob of a child, pierced Kai's preternaturally sharp hearing.

Asha: "...This way... quickly... come this way..."

Kai instinctively whipped his head towards the source of the sound. In the dense gloom, thick with dust and the stench of gunpowder, amidst a jumbled pile of shattered metal plates and discarded tires, a pair of terrified, luminous black eyes glinted desperately. It was a girl, no older than five or six, rail-thin and emaciated. Her small, trembling finger pointed again, this time towards an old, rusted sewer grate set into the floor.

Lilith was the first to grasp the child's intention. Her eyes, wide with disbelief, met Kai's.

Lilith: "Kai… that child…!"

There wasn't even a second to hesitate. The thudding of mercenary boots was already terrifyingly close, just beyond their flimsy cover. Kai simultaneously detonated his last two smoke grenades, instantly creating a dense, disorienting smokescreen. Then, grabbing Lilith's hand, he lunged towards the sewer grate the child had indicated. With a grating shriek of rusted metal, the cover yielded, and a pitch-black abyss, reeking of damp earth and something acrid and fetid, yawned open, roughly sucking them down as if into the very bowels of the earth.

2. A Labyrinth of Darkness, Strewn with Diamond Dust

The subterranean world was far deeper, far more complex than they could have ever imagined. It was a network of abandoned mine tunnels, a forgotten relic from an era when human greed had clawed 'Tears of Diamond' from the earth's tortured depths. The child, without a moment's hesitation, led them through the oppressive darkness like a small, nimble mouse navigating its familiar burrow. They scrambled precariously between decaying wooden support beams that groaned as if on the verge of collapse, splashed through ankle-deep, fetid groundwater, and sometimes even crawled on all fours through narrow passages where swarms of bats erupted in a flurry of leathery wings.

From above, the muffled, urgent shouts of the mercenaries, their searching footsteps, and the sporadic crackle of gunfire still echoed faintly. Yet the child, seemingly without a shred of fear, navigated the narrow, perilous paths with an unnerving familiarity, as if she had walked these lightless corridors a thousand times. Lilith stumbled and nearly fell several times, her strength failing, but each time, the child would turn back, offer a small, steadying hand, and even manage a faint, reassuring smile. Her name, they learned in hushed whispers, was Asha. A child with brave eyes that shone like stars even in this suffocating darkness.

How much time had passed, they couldn't tell. Their strength was nearly depleted, worn down by the suffocating darkness and the putrid stench. Lilith was on the verge of collapse, and Kai too, felt a wave of dizziness from the blood loss from his injured shoulder. Just then, Asha's small voice echoed softly in the tunnel.

Asha: "We're… we're almost there. Just a little further… my grandmother is there."

This secret passage, Asha explained, had been created by her grandfather, a former miner, as an emergency escape route. She used it whenever she had to sneak out to the vicinity of the derelict factory to find medicinal herbs or scraps of food for her ailing grandmother. Today, witnessing the desperate plight of the two strangers hunted by those "bad men," she had, without a second thought, found a courage she didn't know she possessed.

Finally, a faint sliver of light beckoned from a narrow crevice far ahead. The dead end of the tunnel. A dilapidated shack, clinging precariously to the base of a cliff on the outermost edge of the Kibera slum. That was Asha's home.

3. The Last Bread of Zarephath, and a Grandmother's Tears

The shack, when they finally stumbled into it, was so dilapidated it seemed a strong gust of wind might blow it away. Yet, it was kept spotlessly clean, an orderliness that spoke of Asha's small, diligent hands. In one corner, on a pallet of worn-out blankets, lay a frail old woman, her breath coming in shallow, ragged gasps, as if each one might be her last. Her deeply sunken eyes were dim, almost lifeless, yet as Asha rushed to her side and gently touched her forehead, a flicker of profound, heart-wrenching tenderness for her granddaughter shone through.

Asha: (In a small whisper) "Grandmother, we have guests. I… I brought them. They were being chased by those bad men…"

The old woman's eyelids fluttered open weakly, her gaze falling upon the two strangers, Kai and Lilith. A brief flicker of alarm crossed her features, quickly replaced by a deep, resigned sorrow, and then, a touch of wonder at her granddaughter's bravery. She gasped for breath, her voice barely audible as she whispered to Asha.

Grandmother: "Asha… my child… you did well… But… we have nothing… nothing at all to offer our guests… cough, cough… Still… that last bit of cornmeal… quickly now…."

Tears welling in her eyes, Asha fetched a small wooden box. Inside, there was indeed less than a handful of cornmeal, the bottom of the box almost bare. With utmost care, the child took that precious flour, mixed it with a little water in a cracked earthenware bowl, and baked it on a small, makeshift hearth. A moment later, Asha respectfully offered two small, warm corn cakes to Kai and Lilith – their last sustenance, perhaps, in this world.

Lilith, her throat tight with unshed tears, couldn't bring herself to accept it. She gently took Asha's small, calloused hand.

Lilith: "Child… it's alright. We are truly alright. This is for you and your grandmother."

But Asha shook her head resolutely, pressing the bread into their hands.

Asha: "No… Grandmother always said… guests are precious gifts sent from heaven… no matter how difficult things are… we must always serve them with all our heart…"

At that pure, sublime sincerity, that desperate generosity blooming in the heart of this living hell, Kai and Lilith were utterly speechless. Here, in the lowest depths of a godforsaken world, they were witnessing the most profound act of human grace.

It was precisely then that the sharp crack of gunfire shattered the night's fragile peace outside!

BANG! BANG! RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!

Mercenaries: "Found them! This way! I can smell the rats hiding in here!"

It was Babel's mercenaries. Their pursuit had been far swifter, far more relentless than they had feared. Asha's small shack was already surrounded. 'How did they find us here…!' Kai's face turned to ice.

Hot tears streamed down Yana Grandmother's withered cheeks. Her frail, trembling hand clutched Asha's small one tightly, and she pleaded with Kai and Lilith, her voice on the verge of collapse.

Grandmother: "Cough, cough… Oh dear God… This… this child… please, just her… Our Asha, this poor, innocent thing… This old woman… cough! I've lived my life… I'm alright… Just her… Please, just this child… If it's you two… our baby, our beautiful granddaughter… I feel you can protect her… So… cough! Please… take her… get her out… of here… I beg… I beg you… sob…"

Gasping for breath between violent fits of coughing, the grandmother almost pushed Asha into Kai and Lilith's arms. Fat teardrops already welled in Asha's large, innocent eyes, threatening to overflow like a torrent.

4. Burning Refuge, Escape Amidst Screams

The decision was instantaneous. Outside, the mercenaries were already blasting away at the flimsy door of the shack, their harsh shouts accompanied by a hail of gunfire. Kai swept Asha into his arms, and Lilith, without even a moment to bid a final farewell to the old woman, followed close behind. Yana Grandmother offered them a faint, serene smile and a slight nod. That was the last they saw of her.

Asha: "Grandmother! Grandmotherrrrr!"

Asha's desperate cry tore through the night, a night already saturated with gunfire and the stench of death. But they could not look back.

As they burst through the back door of the shack, another despairing scene of encirclement unfolded before their eyes. Dozens of heavily armed mercenaries were already aiming their weapons directly at them.

But this time, it was different.

KRA-KA-THOOOOM! RUMBLE!

With a deafening roar that seemed to tear the very sky apart, a flash of blinding light erupted from the heavens, descending upon the mercenaries! A heavily armed stealth helicopter, like an avenging black falcon, swooped down, unleashing a terrifying barrage from its powerful minigun upon the surprised soldiers! The faint, discreet insignia of the 'Kingdom Builder Foundation' shimmered on its fuselage. It was their final emergency extraction protocol, 'Echo-7' team.

Echo-7 : "Boss! Mistress Lilith! This way! Quickly!"

As a reinforced rope ladder unfurled from the helicopter and Echo-7 team members laid down covering fire, Kai and Lilith, with Asha clutched tightly, scrambled desperately aboard.

The very instant the helicopter barely lifted off the ground, shaking violently, an RPG fired by the mercenaries scored a direct hit on Asha's small shack.

KABOOOOOOOM!

With a colossal fireball, Asha's only sanctuary, the place where her grandmother had breathed her last just moments ago, disintegrated into a million pieces, a funeral pyre erupting into the night sky. The explosion illuminated the Kibera slum with a hellish, flickering light.

Asha: "GRANDMOTHERRRRR! NOOOOOOO!"

Asha, nestled in Lilith's arms, sobbed almost to the point of fainting, but there was no time to even register that grief. Surviving enemy anti-aircraft missiles, drawing fiery trails, streaked menacingly towards their ascending helicopter.

The helicopter, maneuvering like a mad dervish, barely evaded the missile barrage. Through the windows, the burning Kibera slum and the receding nightscape of Nairobi flashed by rapidly. Asha finally cried herself to sleep in Lilith's embrace. Kai, his face pale, exchanged a silent, grim look with Lilith, whose lips were pressed into a thin, hard line.

During their flight to the secret bunker, no one in the cabin spoke a word. Only the rough roar of the engines and, intermittently, the faint, whimpering sleepy-talk of a small child broke the heavy silence. Kai gazed down at Asha's small face, asleep in Lilith's arms. Rael, and Asha's grandmother… another innocent sacrifice, and with that sacrifice, an even heavier burden of responsibility settling upon their shoulders. Beside him, Lilith, as if sharing the same thought, stared out at the darkness beyond the window, at the unseen enemies that lay in wait, her jaw set with an unyielding resolve.